On Dumpster Diving describes one man's experiences scavenging dumpsters for food and whatever else he needs to survive. The author, Lars Eighner, uses a variety of rhetorical devices throughout the essay, as well as ethos, to get his point across, and lead to some more abstract ideas.
One of the main schemes Eighner uses is antithesis. For example, he use antithesis in the phrases: “...which is not so much a positive sign as it is the absence of a negative one,” and “A boxed pizza can be written off; an unboxed pizza does not exist.” The latter is also an example of parallelism, as is the sentence: “He can wipe the egg yolk off the found can, but he cannot erase the stigma of eating garbage out of his mind.”
Asyndeton is present when Eighner writes: “Boom boxes, candles, bedding, toilet paper, medicine, book, a typewriter, a virgin male love doll, change sometimes amounting to many dollars...” Another scheme used is anaphora: “I like the frankness of the word 'scavenging,' which I can hardly think of without picturing a big black snail on an aquarium wall. I live from the refuse of others. I am a scavenger. I think think it is a sound and honorable niche...”
Ethos is strongly present throughout the essay, since the author is writing about his life and what it is like Dumpster diving. You know that the author knows what he is talking about, since he has real life experience. Pathos is also used, such as when Eighner describes the dead or dying animals in the Dumpsters, and when he writes: “Dumpster things are often sad ─ abandoned teddy bears, shredded wedding books, despaired-of sales kits. I find many pets lying in state in Dumpsters,” he is appealing to the readers' emotions.
Altogether, On Dumpster Diving is a very interesting essay, which uses rhetorical devices, humor, and anecdotes to move into more important lessons, such as “the transience of material being.” These abstract ideas are pretty much summed up in these two sentences: “Between us [the very wealthy and the author] and the rat-race millions who have confounded their selves with the objects they grasp and who nightly scavenge the cable channels looking for they know not what. I am sorry for them.”
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8 comments:
My favorite part about your writing in this post is how you really give a lot of examples and quotes to explain your stance and reasoning. It really gets your points across.
You did a really good job of explaining how each of the schemes and tropes were used. Examples galore! This is almost like our rhetorical analysis! Fabulous job!
Skye,
I love your post and I also loved the essay! The examples you gave were great. This was one of the first essays that I read and I found this one to be one of the most enjoyable. It gave me a new look on what food I throw away... Great Job!
Great job on giving examples. I read this essay, but even if I hadn't I would have had a good idea of what it was about.
Nicely Done Sky. I did not read the Dumpster Diving Essay but by the time I had finished reading your paper I had a sense of the writing style of the author yet I still could hear Sky through the rhetorical analysis part of your paper.
I agree with Connor. How you explain all of your examples really shows your understanding of the rhetorical devices.
Ethos must had played a tremendous role in this essay due the this man’s living conditions. Is it possible to read about these desperate measures without developing some sort of emotional connection or sympathy? What I further agree with is that pathos are equally as effective. No one knows better than someone that has experiences it firsthand. Amazing job on pointing out this important tactic.
Skye,
Even though I read the same essay, once I read your post it helped me understand even more. I liked how you used many examples to help show what you were thinking.
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